Superboy Clark

Just over a week ago, Clark had a fall.  He stood up in his high chair (so, about 4' from the floor) and fell over the side and onto his right ear.  It was scary and had him badly shaken up, with a bruise on the top of his ear.  For the next couple days, I watched him very closely for signs of trauma...you know, the usual, vomiting, loss of consciousness, weird pupils, seizures, etc.  None of that happened, I was fairly certain we were in the clear.  Until Sunday night (over 3 days later).

I reached down to touch Clark on the head and felt a soft, spongy spot instead.  That had NOT been there before.  My mind immediately went to his fall & so I called the patient advisory nurse.  The soft, spongy lumps were about 2"x3", on both sides of his head just above his ears.  They were mirror images of one another.  The PAN advised me to bring him in to the ER at Children's, which was my 1st thought, too.  Then we couldn't decide which Children's to take him to (we are very fortunate to have 2 within an hour's drive of our house and Clark happens to be a patient at both of them.) 

Because of my indecision, I called his pediatrician to see what she advised.  It was a good thing I did that because she said not to take him to the ER (phew!) since he had no troubling outward signs, instead to bring him in 1st thing Monday morning and she would examine him.

When we got there on Monday, she examined him and was pretty unsure of what it could be.  Because of his fall, she ordered an xray to check for a skull fracture.  She called me back that afternoon, letting me know that he did not have a skull fracture but to keep watching the spongy lumps and bring him in if they changed.  Also, she said to bring him back in a couple weeks and to follow up with genetics because there was a chance that they could be syndrome-related

Well, the lumps changed.  They became slightly more swollen and warm to the touch and migrated upward on his head a little bit.  I decided to email his neurologist and see what her advice would be for us.  Unfortunately, she emailed me back that she was on vacation and to contact the neurology clinic for help.  So, I called the clinic and after a day of waiting around, got a phone call from the nurse specialist at nearly 7pm yesterday to come in for an appointment this morning.

At the appointment, the nurse specialist admitted that she was unsure of what these lumps could be so she would like to bring in one of the other neurologists to feel them and get their opinion on the matter.  The neurologist came in, felt around, and said that he'd like Clark to have a(nother) CT scan, it could possibly be edema or a hematoma.

We shuffled over to Children's where Clark was to have the scan done.  In the lobby of the clinic, I had read a sign that said the children's hospital uses a new kind of CT scanner, called a Flash CT.  Apparently this reduces radiation exposure by up to 75%, takes a matter of seconds & our hospital is one of only 3 facilities in the country to have one.  When the doctor mentioned CT, I specifically requested this machine since Clark has already had radiation exposure through the CT he had last year. 

As a side note, just last week a study was in an article I read that said that multiple CT scans tripled the risk of brain tumors and leukemia in pediatric patients...so, as you can imagine, I was freaking out about radiation exposure today.

While still not ideal, he was able to have his scan done in the new Flash CT machine.  The last time he had a scan he had to be fully sedated, so that was also a concern I had.  This facility though, it seems, was completely prepared for the hard-to-restrain Mr. Clark.  They burrito wrapped him from neck-to-toe in a sheet & then had a full-length velcro restraint they wrapped around him, complete with a foam vice and immobilizing strap for his head.  He was, for all purposes, completely immobilized.  This may not seem like something you'd expect to see a mom raving about, but compared to the trauma of having to start an IV and dose him with anesthesia?  I'll take the Velcro Burrito.  Yes I will.

That whole process took less than 5 minutes, the majority of the time devoted to turning Clark into a burrito.  Then came the wait for the results.  The nurse specialist assured me that she would call as soon as the images had been read.

A couple hours later, I got the call.  She said that it was a scalp hematoma, likely caused by the fall and that it should resolve within the coming weeks.  His brain and skull were unaffected.

The moral of this story is this:  ALWAYS buckle your baby into their high chair.  Hard lesson learned on my part...in the time it takes to wash a peach, your child could sustain a really scary injury.